


tell them about the new trends

by boiledlikewater



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-20
Updated: 2010-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-13 20:52:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/141619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boiledlikewater/pseuds/boiledlikewater
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elena is sick of all this vampire bullshit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	tell them about the new trends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Essen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Essen/gifts).



> Mentions of Stefan/Elena and Stefan/Katherine.

Elena knew that being woken up at five in the morning by a series of loud knocks on her apartment door could only mean one thing: vampire bullshit. Actually, to be fair, sometimes werewolves were fucking something up or some witches did something that shouldn’t be allowed by nature, but usually it was vampires.

She, resigned, groped around for her vervain necklace, put on her most matronly bathrobe, and went to open the front door without looking through the peephole first. She expected to see one of the Salvatore brothers, probably Damon, trying to make her life difficult, and got ready to explain, once again, that she decided to go to college in California so she could be a normal student, and that meant not having to deal with supernatural things, yes, that means you Damon, vampires count even if they’re friends. Elena had been waiting for him to show up any day now, ever since Bonnie had let it slip that the rule didn’t apply to Caroline, as they'd been friends since kindergarten, and right before her last final seemed an appropriately inconvenient time for him to show up and throw a temper tantrum. Instead she was greeted with the sight of Katherine lounging against a banister, looking as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

Elena slammed the door in her face before Katherine had even managed to finish saying hello in her customary way, pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t having another nightmare brought about by finals stress, and triple checked to make sure her necklace was still secure around her neck. When she’d managed to get herself a little more under control, she opened the door again, glad that her roommates had already all gone home, and hoping that Katherine hadn’t gotten bored and wandered off to eat her neighbors.

Katherine was still standing in exactly the same position she’d been in before, except somehow she now managed to be radiating smugness.

“Hello, Elena,” she said.

“What do you want?” Elena said using the tone she used on Damon whenever he was being particularly annoying, trying to squelch any signs of fear.

Moving closer to Elena, Katherine replied, “Get your belongings together, and let's go,”

“And why should I do that?”

“You mean you haven't heard? Stefan was kidnapped, we don’t have a lot of time, and we need to go now.” Katherine continued to advance, and Elena could see that she wasn’t as together as she first appeared. Her clothes seemed to be wrinkled, and her normally perfect curls drooped as if she hadn’t washed them in a couple of days.

Elena paused before answering, clearly something was wrong, but taking Katherine at her word was foolish at best, and if there were an issue with Stefan, she would have been informed. But if Katherine’s goal was to get her out of the relative safety of her apartment to kill her or put her under compulsion, why hadn’t she just waited for Elena to leave for her last final later this morning?

Before she could come to a decision about what to say, Katherine lept forward, her fangs distending, and pressed Elena against the wall, her hand on Elena’s throat just hard enough to hurt, but not enough to significantly cut off her breathing. She leaned in close enough that Elena could feel puffs of air on her face as she spoke.

“Get dressed and come with me right now or I will rip your friends apart, don’t think I don’t know who they are, after all, I got one of them to invite me in months ago.”

Elena nodded and Katherine released her. “Good,” she continued, “You also should call that Bennett witch and tell her that I'm taking care of it.”

Elena went to her room and closed the door behind her, aware that this was little more than a gesture, but unwilling to pass up any opportunity to distance herself from Katherine. She quickly pulled on the sweatshirt and jeans she'd laid out last night-the rest of her clothes were packed up in anticipation for her flight this evening-and called up Caroline instead, knowing that Bonnie should be on a plane right now.

“Oh my god, Elena, Stefan’s being held in the Rockies, Bonnie just called, we’re already in the car,” Caroline blurted out, not even allowing Elena to say hi before starting in.

“Caroline, what? What’s going on, Katherine showed up, and she said Stefan was kidnapped?”

“Bonnie didn’t call you? Never mind, three days ago I went to the boarding house to see if Damon had stopped sulking in Europe and had come back to help out with the fundraiser the Lockwoods are having like he said he would, and the door was hanging open, and there was blood everywhere, and I thought it was Damon at first, but I called Tyler and he said it was Stefan's blood, and then Bonnie tried to find him using that locater spell, but she couldn’t get a lock on him,” Caroline said, “Tyler, you needed to make a left, you went right past the exit, listen to Matt, I’m talking to Elena right now.”

“Caroline, focus” Elena cut in.

“Okay, so Bonnie came home early so she could cast the spell with one of Stefan’s belongings, but that just made her pass out, because it turns out that a witch was blocking where he was, and then Katherine called me last night, and I don’t even know she got my number, and said that she would stop the distortion, but Bonnie said not to trust her, but it stopped an hour ago, so she cast the spell and when Katherine called again, I told her where he was, and now you said she’s with you?”

“Time’s up,” Katherine said, barging into Elena’s room and grabbing her phone, “Let’s go.”

 ---

Apparently Katherine had somehow obtained a car. A nice, new, _expensive_ car. Elena almost asked if it was stolen, but since Stefan was in danger, she found that she didn't actually care.

“It’s mine,” Katherine said as she climbed into the driver’s seat.

Elena got into the passenger’s seat after putting her suitcase in the trunk. She had no idea exactly how long it was going to take to break Stefan out of where ever he was, and she didn't want to spend days in the same clothes. Despite her worries about Stefan and the presence of Katherine, she promptly went to sleep. The one good thing about her constantly getting abducted by various people over the past couple of years is that she could now fall asleep in the presence of psychopaths without any issues whatsoever.

She jerked awake a few hours later, judging by the car’s clock, right as she should have been sitting down to her test. Shit, what _was_ she going to do about that?

“Awake?” Katherine said.

“Why did you want me to come with you?” Elena replied.

“I needed bait,” she said, “and if I compelled someone, Stefan would go on and on about how people have free will and I shouldn't use humans like that and not be properly grateful for me rescuing him.”

Elena leaned her head against the window, exhausted. She’d been too busy studying for her finals to get much sleep this past week and the nap had barely helped. “Why are you even doing this?”

“Because I love him, Elena,” she said turning to look at her, “and while we’re asking questions, don’t you?”

Elena didn’t bother responding.  She did, but she hadn’t seen him in over two years, ever since she’d gone off to college orientation when they'd broken up again, and she’d changed since them, maybe into someone who didn't still love Stefan Salvatore. Or at least, she hoped she’d changed since then. The whole point of trying to distance herself from Mystic Falls was to allow herself to grow up in a normal environment, and she hoped that it wasn’t all in vain, especially since most of the people she'd left behind weren't very understanding of her decision.  


 Stefan had been one of the ones who'd gotten it, to her great relief. He'd taken care to never be in Mystic Falls when she was there, and while she knew that it was mostly because he respected her and her choices, she knew that at least some of the reason he avoided her was because she had dumped him. She'd also insisted that nobody tell her anything about him, as part of the whole pretending that the supernatural doesn't exist while she's at college deal, and everybody had stuck to it. Well, except for Caroline, who still tried to subtly mention of him every so often. Elena had finally gotten her to stop after she refused to talk to her when Caroline would do this, so for all she knew, Stefan was completely different now.  


Maybe he had reconciled with Katherine and his kidnapping was some sort of elaborate plot they’d dreamed up for who knows what reason, maybe he was back to being unable to handle human blood and has gotten captured because of something awful he'd done, maybe he was already dead. She was still contemplating worst-case scenarios when Katherine pulled into a gas station for a refill. 

 “If you’re hungry, you should buy something. We’re not going to stop again before we get there,” Katherine ordered.

 Elena obeyed and grabbed herself a dubious looking sandwich after taking the opportunity to go to the bathroom. When she got back to the car, Katherine had already finished putting the gas in and was drinking from a thermos.

 “Blood,” she said at Elena’s inquisitive look, “I prefer it from the vein, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

 Elena tore into her food as Katherine put the car into gear and drifted off to sleep again as soon as she finished eating.

\---

 The next thing she knew, someone unfamiliar was roughly dragging her from the car. Actually, not someone, some vampire. She opened her mouth to yell, but before she could let any sound out, a rag was pressed to her mouth, and she fell unconscious again.

 When she next opened her eyes, she saw Stefan peering down on her, his hands cradling her face.

 “Elena,” he whispered, as if he’d been worried she wouldn’t wake up, “Elena, what are you doing here?”

 “I could ask you the same question,” she croaked.

 His face immediately darkened. “It was Katherine. All I know is that she was captured, and I’m insurance that she’ll do what they tell her to.”

 Elena moved to sit up, but she still felt woozy from whatever she’d been drugged with, and she realized halfway up that she probably should be lying down.  


 “Katherine brought me here as bait to rescue you,” Elena answered in a more normal voice.

 At that, Stefan’s frown became even more pronounced, and he got up to start pacing around the tiny cell they were imprisoned in. Following his movements made Elena feel even more dizzy, so she turned her face to the floor, the stone cool against her cheek, and closed her eyes again.

 “Why would she do that? Katherine never does anything that isn’t in her best interest, why is she trying to rescue me? She knows that Caroline is probably on her way here as we speak, so what does she get from making the effort?” Stefan said after a few minutes of almost complete silence.

 Elena dragged herself to an upright position before answering, “I don’t know, but can you think of way out of here?”

 “No, besides waiting for Caroline. I haven’t been fed since I was brought here, and they shot me with vervain right before they brought you in to stop me from escaping. I'm not strong enough to force the door open,” he said, leaning against a wall.

Now that Elena was looking properly, he looked somewhat ill. His clothes were torn and bloody, probably from when he'd been captured, and his brow was furrowed even more than would be appropriate for the circumstances they were in.

"How long have you been here?" she inquired, trying to think of something to pass the time until either their jailers made it clear what they wanted from them or they were rescued.

 At that the door swung open to reveal a smirking Katherine looking none the worse for wear, except for the blood around her mouth and coating her arms. None of it appeared to be hers. The one thing you couldn't say about Katherine was that she was inefficient, but her triumph seemed to have taken an abnormally short time, even for her.  


 “I hope you didn’t miss me while I was gone,” she said, sashaying into the cell. 

 Stefan immediately turned to face her. “What is going on?” he demanded.

 “Some people haven’t heard that Klaus is dead,” she said with an eye roll, and tossed Stefan some keys. “They're for the car that's parked out front. Leave it in lot C when you get to the airport, it won’t be towed. There's a body near to it that still has most of the blood in it. You have ten minutes before the people in charge show up." She paused, "Stefan, I'll be seeing you soon, and Elena, don't think that I didn't save your life. They would have killed you without me." She then breezed out of the cell as quickly as she had entered. 

Stefan sighed and leaned down to help Elena up. 

"The airport?" he said.

"I have a flight home at ten. And you're talking to Katherine now?" she replied as they quickly hurried to the car. 

"Not really, she shows up sometimes and tells me she loves me. I wouldn't consider it a relationship," he retorted.

She'd been unconscious when she'd been brought in, but it was clear from Stefan's sure movements that he hadn't been. As soon as they emerged from the house, Elena broke into a jog, moving as fast as possible towards Katherine's car. Stefan started out matching her pace, but when another vampire burst from out of the picturesque woods, he darted forward and ripped it's head before she'd even registered that he wasn't beside her. Doing that appeared to take a lot out of him, and she'd already reached the car and gotten in before he managed to get back.

She fiddled around with the built in GPS, programing in her destination, trying not to look at Stefan as he fed from the dead body lying right on top of the hood of the car. He slid into the passenger seat, already looking less pallid, and Elena starting driving, aware that they needed to get out of there as soon as possible.  


After about an hour of driving, when Elena had stopped looking in the rear view mirror for anybody following them, and Stefan had talked to Matt, Caroline, and Bonnie, in that order, to convince them that he really was alright, and he'd be in Mystic Falls by morning, Stefan broke the silence. "You look good," he said, looking at her face for the first time since they'd left the house.  


She responded, "You do too," and put her hand on his leg without taking her eyes off the road, already planning to make sure they caught up over break. Obviously no matter what she did, she was still going to get dragged into life or death situations, so she might as well make sure that the people she cared about knew that she did.  



End file.
